The rand was trading at 8.17 to the US dollar‚ unchanged from the JSE's close on Thursday‚ while gold changed hands at US$1‚601.73 a troy ounce from US$1‚607.60/oz at the JSE's previous close and platinum was quoted at $1‚471.00/oz‚ from $1‚472.50/oz previously.

“We are not expecting drastic moves on the markets until after the release of the US nonfarm payrolls data‚” said Martin Strauss‚ equity dealer PSG Konsult.

European stocks started lower after action from a trio of global central banks on Thursday failed to support risk appetite‚ instead raising concern that the health of the global economy may be worse than thought‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

London's FTSE 100 index was down 0.31%.

On Thursday‚ the Bank of England increased its asset purchase programme by GBP50bn ($78bn) to GBP375bn. Almost immediately afterwards‚ the People's Bank of China cuts its benchmark one-year lending rate by 31 basis points to 6.0% and one-year deposit rate by 25 basis points to 3.0%.

The European Central Bank lowered its lending rate by 25 basis points to 0.75% as expected‚ but also cut its deposit rate by 25 basis points to zero‚ which was more of a surprise.

In Asia‚ Japan's Nikkei average ended the session 0.65% in the red‚ while the Hang Seng index was down 0.29% by 09:23 SA time.

On the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) was down 42 cents to R273‚ BHP Billiton (BIL) inched up three cents to R237.31 and Sasol (SOL) garnered R2.25 to R348.15.